1947 Wilberforce State Green Wave football team

The 1947 Wilberforce State Green Wave football team was an American football team that represented Wilberforce State College of Education (now known as Central State University) in the Midwest Athletic Association (MAA) during the 1947 college football season. In its 12th season under head coach Gaston F. Lewis, the team compiled a 11–1 record and all outscored opponents by a total of 415 to 79.^[2]

1947 Wilberforce State Green Wave football
Fruit Bowl, W 26–0 vs. Prairie View A&M Vulcan Bowl, W 27–21 vs. Grambling
Conference	Midwest Athletic Association
Record	11–1 (3–1 MAA)
Head coach	Gaston F. Lewis (12th season)
Seasons ← 1946 1948 →

1947 Midwest Athletic Association football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 1 Tennessee A&I $	3	–	0	–	0			10	–	0	–	0
No. 12 Louisville Municipal	2	–	0	–	1			6	–	1	–	1
No. 2 Wilberforce State	3	–	1	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 22 Kentucky State	3	–	3	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
No. 13 Lincoln (MO)	1	–	3	–	1			3	–	4	–	1
Wilberforce	0	–	2	–	0			0	–	6	–	1
Philander Smith	0	–	3	–	0			1	–	9	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from the Pittsburgh Courier using the Dickinson Ratings System.[1]

Wilberforce State was ranked No. 2 among the nation's black college football teams according to the Pittsburgh Courier and its Dickinson Rating System. The team's only defeat was against Tennessee A&I, the team selected by the Courier as the 1947 national champion.^[3]

Key players on the 1947 Wilberforce State team included halfbacks Walt Sellers and Carl Baylor, quarterbacks Freddie Hall and Michael "Mickey" Carter, and end Blake White.^[4][5]

Prior to the start of the 1947–48 academic year, the State of Ohio withdrew support from the church-supported portion of the school. The two portions of the school then split and fielded separate football teams with different coaches. Lewis, who had been the coach at Wilberforce since 1934, took responsibility for coaching the state school, and Dwight Fisher coached the religious school.^[6]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 27	at North Carolina A&T*	Greensboro, NC	W 9–7	8,000	[7]
October 4	vs. Kentucky State	League Park Cleveland, OH	W 34–6	8,000	[8]
October 10	vs. Tuskegee*	Comiskey Park Chicago, IL	W 20–6	25,000	[9]
October 18	Wright Field*	Wilberforce Stadium Xenia, OH	W 101–0		[10][11]
October 24	at Tennessee A&I	Sulphur Dell Nashville, TN	L 7–14		[12]
November 1	Lincoln (MO)	Wilberforce Stadium Xenia, OH	W 32–6		[13]
November 8	Delaware State*	Wilberforce Stadium Xenia, OH	W 31–0		[14]
November 15	at Philander Smith	Hot Springs, AR	W 57–7
November 22	West Virginia State*	Wilberforce Stadium Xenia, OH	W 31–0	3,000	[15]
November 29	vs. Bergen Junior College*	Polo Grounds New York, NY	W 40–12	13,000–16,000	[4][16]
December 14	vs. Prairie View A&M*	Kezar Stadium San Francisco, CA (Fruit Bowl)	W 26–0	10,000	[5]
January 1, 1948	vs. Grambling*	Rickwood Field Birmingham, AL (Vulcan Bowl)	W 27–21	8,500	[17]
*Non-conference game